The Old Man and Me

 

Simply put- this is a good book. Actually, it’s a great book! I loved reading every word and was disappointed it came to an end. There are some books that you just never want to end. The Old Man and Me is a completely original spin on a somewhat cliched story line: a young American woman flies off to England to reclaim her fortune by seducing a rich old man who is in possession of it.

I probably never would have taken a second look at this book had I not read Dundy’s first novel, The Dud Avocado. The title The Old Man and Me sounds cheesy and all kinds of boring. And when I pulled the book of the shelf at the library, the cover was worn and yellow and torn. It looked like it hadn’t been read in years and smelled like it too as I thumbed through the musty pages. But what I happily discovered was a wonderful cast of characters who are insanely entertaining.

What made me fall in love with Elaine Dundy’s writing while reading The Dud Avocado is the wit she infused into her characters. That same charm and edge I enjoyed in Dud Avacodo is everywhere in The Old Man and Me. The clash of the British and American cultures come into play to create some classically hilarious and awkward situations.

So, the story is this: American Betsy Lou, moonlighting as Honey Flood, an American heiress set loose in England, is out to seduce C.D. McKee. C.D. McKee is a very rich man. Make that a very rich OLD man. And Betsy Lou believes she is the rightful owner of his riches. How that actually works out is a wonderfully complicated, melodramatic, and enjoyable flashback to read, so I won’t ruin that story line here. But to get back her money, Betsy Lou must first get to C.D. And once she accomplishes that, she has no idea what she’s going to do or how she’s going to her her money back. What Betsy Lou had not counted on was that she might, possibly fall in love with that C.D. McKee. But as her funds disappear and she becomes more desperate, Betsy Lou has to decide how far she’ll go to get back what is hers.

The Old Man and Me was written and takes place in the sixties. But the story isn’t antiquated and the characters are as alive as ever. The story jumps off the pages and sucks you in from the first page until the very last sentence. The comedy is face-paced, and at times very dark – but never dull.

The Dud Avocado

“It was a hot, peaceful, optimistic sort of day in September. It was around eleven in the morning, I remember, and I was drifting down the boulevard St. Michel, thoughts rising in my head like little puffs of smoke…”

The Dud Avocado, by Elaine Dundy, follows the adventures of Sally Jay Gorce, an American in Paris. She has no plans and no real expectations – only for adventure. She falls in and out of several acting jobs and falls in and out of love with several men. Along the way she breaks off an affair with her older Italian lover, takes up with a movie-star-to-be and loses her passport.

I had never heard of The Dud Advacado before reading it. I had never heard of the book’s author Elaine Dundy. But there is really something wonderful about this book. There is a hint of the chick-lit we’re all so used to nowadays. But there’s a depth, an intellect, a realness to the story and especially to the characters that is so often absent in the chick-lit books we’re inundated with now. There’s an evolution to Sally Jay and her story. She’s not saintly – she has good moments and some not-so-good moments, but she’s always open to life, open to adventure.

It’s amazing to think that this book, so filled with adventure, wit, and energy about one independent free-thinking young woman was written in 1958. Some of the fashions and slang may have changed, but the themes present in this book have weathered the years and still resonate with young women of today. Figuring out what you want in life and what kind of person you want to be is tricky business. And can be a bumpy road. I couldn’t put this book down and recommended it to ALL my friends. Very glad I bumped into it that day in the bookstore.